9.17.23 Football Articles

[aubiefifty 18,259]

6 minutes ago, SaltyTiger said:

Thanx Fiddy, will come back for of this later today. Big week coming up. Expect you up and going extra early. 

you got it boss. we know you secretly run this board so i will brown nose accordingly.............grins

[SaltyTiger 8,579]

3 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

you got it boss. we know you secretly run this board so i will brown nose accordingly.............grins

Take your time in the morning. Travel day for me and won’t get a chance to fully read until tomorrow afternoon.

[toddc 13,197]

Not good just before the SEC slate is up.

 

[bigbird 60,940]

2 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

Tigers dominate L.O.S

The heck we did!

How many short conversations failed? We can't miss those opportunities in conference play and expect to win.  We're either missing assignments, reads, or getting whooped, none are good. 

[3rdgeneration 6,650]

1 hour ago, toddc said:

Not good just before the SEC slate is up.

 

I didn’t see either Quez, Var or Scott get hurt.  When did all that happen? Didn’t see Stutts get hurt, either.  🤔

[AUApostle 7,769]

Was Keionte Scott injured prior to the game?  I missed the game and just caught highlights but noticed Var was back there muffing a punt.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

1 hour ago, AUDevil said:

Was Keionte Scott injured prior to the game?  I missed the game and just caught highlights but noticed Var was back there muffing a punt.

when it shows up on youtube i will post the whole game for those that could not watch it.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

i looked and here it was for those that want to see the whole thing.

 

 

[toddc 13,197]

1 hour ago, 3rdgeneration said:

I didn’t see either Quez, Var or Scott get hurt.  When did all that happen? Didn’t see Stutts get hurt, either.  🤔

They were taping up his ankle early in the game for Quez, and I think Scott was banged up before the game. 

Edited September 17, 2023 by toddc

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

auburnwire.usatoday.com

 

Auburn players discuss the win over Samford

JD McCarthy

6–8 minutes

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Auburn’s players enjoyed their return to Jordan-Hare Stadium, beating Samford 45-13.

Some early turnovers by Auburn kept the game closer than it should have been but the Tigers were in control and once Payton Thorne cleaned up his decision making it was over.

Buy Tigers Tickets

While he did have two interceptions, Thorne showed his upside, throwing for 282 yards and one touchdown and rushing for 123 yards and two more scores.

Thorne and several of his teammates met with the media to discuss the win, here is what they had to say about Auburn’s third win of the season.

On what this win did for his confidence…

“It’s a good feeling, but we can’t get too high or too low. We’ll go in and watch the film. I’ll grade myself and watch it with the coaches. Then, we’ll throw it in the trash and move forward.”

On what he showed tonight when it came to his running ability…

“I guess, I’m not that slow. I told people all summer I couldn’t really run last year. Two years ago, I don’t know how many yards I had, but it wasn’t anything crazy. I can get some stuff done on the ground. It was good to get back out there and run again. My body finally feels back to 100 percent after dealing with some stuff I couldn’t run last year, so it was great. I haven’t really run any quarterback-designed run plays. Just different reads in my past, so tonight we were able to get that done and that was fun.”

His thought process going into conference play…

“I love conference play. Right now, I will have to say after this game, we want to get everyone healthy. These are real guys. They are NFL guys and we just need to prepare like we’ve been preparing for any other week.”

On what feels different about the group this year…

“We make the ball a priority. We try to get our hands on the ball the most. The D-line and us have a competition to see who can get the most sacks and picks in the game. I feel like most people would agree that sacks are easier to get. We are keeping up with them right now, but we make the ball our priority. Back in fall camp, we told each other that we had to make the ball the priority. We used the jug machine because they are not just for receivers. We used them, too. We practiced every day and got to catch some balls. I just think small things like that stand out.”

On the defender grip catch…

“It was a great call by my offensive coordinator (Phillip Montgomery). I told Payton (Thorne) to just throw it up and I am going to go for it. He trusts me to come down with that play every time. I just want to give God the glory, first of all, to put me in the position to make plays and help this team win.”

On Coach Freeze finding ways to give him the ball…

“It means a lot to me. I am really happy that I gained trust from the coaches and especially from the head coach (Hugh Freeze) to put the ball in my hands. He trusts me with the ball. It’s SEC play now, so it’s time to get real.”

On the improvements he has seen week to week on the defense…

“Our communication, chemistry, and everything. We have a lot of players that are new here. From last year to this year, we have a lot of new players, especially me coming in as a transfer. We had to get adjusted to each other and learn how we work together and play together.”

On gaining confidence as the season progresses…

“It’s a week-to-week thing with us. In practice, we really focus on the little things. We keep focusing on that. It’s football, we love to play. I can tell all of us love to play. We love to tackle, we love to run, and it gets better and better every week.”

On tonight’s performance…

“I think we played well. We showed a lot of effort. We just have to continue to focus on the detail aspects of the game. Just honing in on adjustments in terms of when a team goes fast, making sure everyone is aligned properly. I think that’s the biggest thing. I’m speaking from a defensive standpoint. I think that we just have to be able to adjust and that comes with playing football, that comes with the game, comes with the speed of the game. So, just improving upon our adjustments, and playing every play with effort and intensity.”

On starting SEC play next week at Texas A&M…

“It’s exciting. It’s a new opportunity that we’ve got. They are a really good team. I saw the score in the stadium, they won 47-3. They are a really good team. They have a lot of weapons on offense. (Wide receiver) Evan Stewart and their running backs are really good, and they’ve got a really good quarterback. It’s a new opportunity for us, and we want to show what we can do against an SEC team, and it’s exciting to get into SEC play.”

On how the outside receivers stepped up this week…

“We just started out with Monday, practice day, we took the step of just showing effort, great effort, and just showed up in the game.”

On scoring his first touchdown in Jordan-Hare…

“It really just means everything to me. I just dreamed as a little kid scoring in a big stadium in the SEC, and it finally just happened. It was such a surreal moment for me. When that play happened, they told us that the corner was going to bite on the out route, and the go (route) was going to be wide open, and sure enough it did happen. I was just out there, one-on-one by myself, and I just had to make the catch.”

On if the defensive fronts did anything differently tonight…

“Oh yes, some of our calls we were making, we had to adjust at halftime. You know we had some difficulty with the backside and bringing pressure, so we just had to adjust from there.”

On how the O-line adjusted to playing with Payton Thorne at QB…

“It’s just a sign, with you know us already knowing Robby (Ashford), he was here before. Payton, he transferred in, and as soon as he got here, he just went to work with us. We get to know him in the running game and then Robby, he’s very explosive, very quick. I was saying today that I tried to keep up with him, I had to block for him. I told him, ‘Give me three seconds, I would’ve been there with him.’ But you know Payton, he’s pretty smooth. He knows how to read a defense, he knows how to make the right calls. Robby does too, but both of them are great quarterbacks.”

[aubiefifty 18,259]

‘We got one of the best groups in the SEC’: Auburn's secondary stays dancing

Updated: Sep. 17, 2023, 10:02 a.m.|Published: Sep. 17, 2023, 10:00 a.m.

6–7 minutes

Auburn cornerback Jaylin Simpson calls interceptions blessings.

And if that’s the case, he and the Auburn defense have been blessed — especially relative to last year, when the Tigers’ defense tallied just six interceptions and seven fumbles through the course of the entire season.

Meanwhile, through just three games in 2023, the Tigers have already recorded five interceptions and a pair of fumble recoveries, meaning Auburn’s defensive secondary is winning the inner-defense competition.

“The D-Line and us, we got a little competition,” Simpson said after Auburn’s 45-13 win over Samford Saturday night. “Who can get the most sacks and picks in a game. And I feel like, most people wouldn’t agree, but I think sacks are easier to get. But we keeping up with them right now.”

Auburn’s friendly competition between the defensive line and the defensive backfield is the result of veterans on the defense wanting to prioritize getting their hands on the football.

Simpson broke it down to the most simplistic means possible Saturday night.

“The game can’t be played without a ball,” Simpson said.

Auburn’s offense learned how hard it was to play the game without a ball last week in Berkeley, Calif., where — despite the defense holding up its end of the bargain and forcing three turnovers — the offense committed five of their own making it nearly impossible to find any kind of rhythm.

Simpson had an interception in the game against Cal — just as he did against UMass in Week 1 and against Samford on Saturday night.

With such an effort, Simpson is the first player since Jerraud Powers in 2007 to record an interception in three straight games. Simpson’s three interceptions also currently leads the nation.

I’m gonna try to do my best to keep keep getting get one every game. You know, I don’t really like to call them picks. I like to call them blessings. It’s just a real blessing to catch those,” Simpson said. “I always say history repeats itself and I’m glad I could be a part of it.”

On Saturday night, Simpson ended up in the same company of Powers midway through the second quarter as he intercepted Samford’s Michael Hiers on 2nd and 6.

Simpson caught the football at the Samford 34-yard line and went on to return it to the 22-yard line — giving the a short field to the Auburn offense, which only needed six plays to find the end zone.

“Me and DJ (James) was doubling the guy and we did exactly what we wanted the receiver to do, which was break into me,” Simpson explained. “In that situation, DJ is the protector and I can be more aggressive. I was very aggressive and the quarterback made a mistake. It was a blessing.”

Simpson’s takeaway was the second of two on the night from the Auburn defense.

Sophomore cornerback JD Rhym also nabbed an interception in Saturday night’s Homecoming win at Jordan-Hare Stadium as he picked off Hiers during the drive that preceded Simpson’s interception.

“I gotta give a shoutout to my boy JD, man,” Simpson said. “JD Rhym… glad to see him out there again. He’s been hurt. He’s been through a lot. Just glad to see him out there and for his first game back when he’s actually playing, going in there and getting a pick… That’s what I know he can do.”

In a perfect world, Rhym would’ve ended the night with a seatbelt around his neck as that’s become Auburn’s version of a “turnover chain”.

“It basically means you strap up... you’re strapping up a receiver,” Simpson explained after the seatbelt first made its appearance in post-game interviews after the game against UMass.

Last week at Cal, after intercepting Sam Jackson V in the endzone to seal the win, James earned seatbelt rights.

The problem? The seatbelt has gone missing in James’ possession.

“He never came back with it. But he needs to get that back,” Simpson said. “Make sure y’all get that mentioned to him. Bring my seatbelt back.”

After all, Simpson paid Amazon good money for that seatbelt after first trying AutoZone, but coming up emptyhanded.

With the seatbelt out of the question in terms of celebrations Saturday night, Simpson had to resort to dancing on the sideline with Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze.

The two first unveiled their choreographed dance — which is an ode to Simpson’s favorite rapper NBA Young Boy — in the season-opener against UMass after Simpson notched a 50-yard Pick 6.

But when you watch Freeze’s first dance performance, “choreographed” might be a loose term.

On a scale of 1-10, Simpson gave Freeze’s dance at the UMass game a 5.

Saturday night after beating the Bulldogs, however, Simpson said Freeze’s performance had improved.

“He was ready to go. He was there before me. He was ready. I was like, ‘Hold up, coach. Hold on, now. Gotta take it slow.’,” Simpson laughed. “We actually practiced in the locker room before the game (today).”

Coming into the matchup with Samford, Simpson and the rest of the Auburn secondary knew they’d have plenty of opportunities to get their hands on the football.

In Samford’s first two games against Shorter and Western Carolina, the Bulldogs attempted 77 passes and completed 44 — good for 753 passing yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions.

“We knew they were pretty much an Air Raid team,” Simpson said. “That’s the team I love to play against because you’re giving me… you’re throwing the blessings to me, you know.”

But that only matters if a team is able to capitalize on the blessings being thrown their way.

Fortunately for Auburn, Simpson and the rest of the Tigers’ secondary have shown they’re able to do just that. And after Saturday night’s win at home, Simpson and Co. are ready to prove they can keep at it as Auburn turns its attention to SEC play.

“I feel like we got one of the best groups in the SEC, man,” Simpson said. “I think we’re just showing it.”

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[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

al.com

 

The Auburn football report card: Grades from a win over Samford

Published: Sep. 17, 2023, 7:00 a.m.

6–7 minutes

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Auburn beat Samford 45-13 Saturday over Homecoming weekend. This was Auburn’s final tune-up before SEC play. So there’s a lot to unpack. Here’s our report card.

Offense: B-

Much of these grades will reflect this, but the offense is really hard to grade.

There were some questionable choices: two different drives where Auburn threw the ball three straight times inside the Samford 10-yard line and combined for three total points over those two drives.

The playcalling there was a bit confusing. More on that later.

There were turnovers and penalties that cost Auburn on multiple occasions in the first half. While Auburn had great passing stats in the first half, the numbers didn’t really indicate some of the costly issues that kept Auburn from building out a big lead.

But man, this was so much better than the Cal game.

Statistically, Auburn did figure out the passing game. Payton Thorne had one fewer completion and three fewer passing yards in the first half against Samford than he has had combined all season.

Then came the second half, where Payton Thorne went on to put up the best rushing game by an Auburn quarterback in a decade. Yeah, you read that right. He had over 400 total yards of offense between his arm and legs. And he didn’t even play the whole game as Robby Ashford took on the mop-up duty.

Rivaldo Fairweather was excellent with some grown-man catches, including a 41-yard grab where he jumped over two Samford defenders.

Auburn’s running backs, though, struggled. Auburn had 86 yards on 26 carries from its running backs. That’s barely over three yards per attempt. Samford allowed over 300 rushing yards to Western Carolina last week.

Auburn had three turnovers in the first half. Thorne’s two interceptions were really poor decisions. Then Auburn got stuffed on a 4th-and-one for a turnover on downs.

For everything that was good on offense, it seemed like there was something bad to match it. It was a weird day for a team that still put up more than 500 total yards. So it’s hard to be too critical. But there were a good chunk of mistakes. And just some things — the running back struggles and weird passing decisions — that just don’t make sense.

Defense: A-

This wasn’t the heroic effort Auburn’s defense showed against Cal, but it was another really solid day.

When Auburn’s offense ran into problems in the first half, the defense came through. And to hold a high-paced, effective passing offense in Samford to just 144 passing yards is pretty impressive.

Jaylin Simpson had an interception for a third straight game. Auburn had six pass breakups including a block from freshman Keldric Faulk at the line of scrimmage who continues to have an impact early.

Auburn is dealing with so many injuries on defense but new faces keep stepping up. Auburn was without two starting cornerbacks in Nehemiah Pritchett and Keionte Scott for most of this game. Donovan Kaufman, who has had a very strong start to the year, also didn’t play. Neither did Austin Keys who is recovering from thumb surgery.

But guys like Larry Nixon III and Kayin Lee keep filling in holes. How long can they keep this up? SEC play looms next week.

Special Teams: C

Okay, let’s start with the good.

Auburn has an absolute stud with Brian Battie in the kick return game. He had 89 kick return yards on three attempts. He very nearly broke off a return all the way for a touchdown in the second half before he was tripped up at the last line of the Samford defense.

He was great. If this grade was based on Battie only, it would be an A.

But yeah, it isn’t based on Battie alone.

So let’s talk about Auburn’s punt returning.

It starts with Keionte Scott, Auburn’s top punt returner. He got hurt early on in the first half. Auburn did not state what his injury was.

It left catching punts to backup punt returner Ja’Varrius Johnson who also got hurt. Then it was Jay Fair’s turn. Neither caught the ball well.

Both Johnson and Fair muffed punts. Johnson recovered his own drop. Samford recovered Fair’s drop.

That needs to get cleaned up, especially if Auburn may be dealing with Scott missing any more time.

Coaching: B

It’s a tale of two halves. There were issues on the offensive line. There was an overreliance on figuring out the passing game which put Auburn in some awkward spots.

It’s easy to question some of the playcalling. Auburn wanted to get the passing game going. It makes sense. It just may have been too much.

There also are a lot of questions now surrounding Robby Ashford. Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze stated he wanted to find a more healthy quarterback setup, which means less rotation. Yet Freeze also said he wants Ashford on the field to get his touches.

Those two points don’t always line up together. And we didn’t see Ashford at all in the first half, especially in some situations that would have made some sense for him.

But it’s hard to grade that too badly because Auburn made multiple very effective halftime adjustments.

Despite only being up 17-0 at halftime and not scoring in the first quarter at all, Auburn pulled away in the second half.

It took a fix on the offensive line. That freed up Thorne to run the ball more. Seemingly every decision Auburn’s coaches made in the second half worked. It also involved more Robby Ashford, who played well in his time on the field.

Overall: B

Here’s the thing: this was so much better than the Cal game.

But it’s all against Samford. The first half had a lot to take away, especially with regard to the quarterbacks.

So take the good. Take it with a grain of salt.

There will be a lot more that gets clearer when Auburn walks into Kyle Field for the start of SEC play in less than a week.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

[aubiefifty 18,259]

l.com

 

Auburn football: What to make of first half play-calling, decisions, and a halftime fix

Published: Sep. 17, 2023, 12:35 a.m.

6–7 minutes

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Hugh Freeze doesn’t have this thing figured out yet here at Auburn. It’s only been three games, only one of them against a Power 5 opponent. Growing pains as he installs his own offense are all part of this process and boy, Freeze has sure made a point to list them.

There have been penalties and poor alignments. Patternless quarterback rotations, players running the wrong way and play calls that haven’t made a whole lot of sense.

This night — Homecoming, a full Jordan-Hare Stadium and a game against Samford — marked Auburn’s final tune-up game before SEC play, and Freeze’s plan was clear. He had questions to answer. Many of them centered around his quarterbacks and a passing game that had failed as a team to pass for a total of 300 yards combined across Auburn’s first two games.

“Just wanted to be balanced, really, and get us some confidence,” Freeze said after the 45-13 win over Samford. “We’re going to have to throw the football some, and they were playing -- the way their safeties were playing, they were getting eight in the box really quick. A lot of those throws in the first half were truly off the run game. But the read for Payton was to throw it based on the numbers.”

So Auburn came out ready to throw. A lot. Probably too much, actually.

Quarterback Payton Thorne dropped back to throw on 12 of Auburn’s first 15 plays. He kept it himself for a scramble on two plays and threw the other 10. Auburn efficiently moved the ball on what at that point was possibly Auburn’s best all-around drive in two weeks.

Then the Tigers got all the way down to the Samford one-yard line. The questions returned.

In previous games, this was the situation where Auburn would look to either backup quarterback Robby Ashford or someone in the running back room that Freeze has been so keen to lean on.

Auburn did neither.

Thorne had an incompletion to Jay Fair on first down, and an incompletion to Shane Hooks on second down. Auburn appeared to line up for what looked like a running play on third down, but then came one of the mistakes that cost Auburn dearly a week ago against Cal: penalties.

Izavion Miller was called for a false start and pushed Auburn back to the six-yard-line. Auburn had to throw, and Thorne tossed an ill-advised pass that ended up as an interception.

“We go to third down then we had a false start or something, I don’t know what it was, moved us back a little bit,” Thorne said. “I’ll have to go look at it a little bit. Maybe I ought to have thrown that away.”

Late in the first half, Auburn drove down inside the Samford 10-yard line again, and yet again threw the ball three straight times. After a loss of yards on a screen to Jeremiah Cobb and two incompletions, Auburn kicked a field goal.

That’s two first-half drives right on the doorstep of the endzone and three total points.

“It kind of worked out that way,” Thorne said of all the passing plays. “We call an RPO, so possibly to hand it off or throw it. I thought I had the look for the throw.”

First-half mistakes also featured a second Thorne interception on a poor decision of a pass thrown into double coverage. When Auburn did try to run the ball on a short-yardage fourth down play near midfield in the first half, Damari Alston was stuffed at the line of scrimmage.

Auburn had five penalties total — four of them in the first half. An improvement from the Cal game, but still costly.

The heavy lean on the pass throughout the first half fulfilled Freeze’s plan to find Thorne some confidence. In the first two games combined, Thorne had 19 completions for 235 yards. In the first half alone against Samford, he had 18 completions for 232 yards.

“I thought Payton was solid outside the one decision on the deep post route,” Freeze said. “That was a poor decision. But outside of that, I thought his decision-making was pretty good. I thought he ran when he needed to. We called some good draws with him, and he looked normal running those.”

The passing numbers don’t indicate the difficulty Auburn had to pull away in the first half. Auburn didn’t score at all in the first quarter.

It also created a situation where while Freeze got what he wanted with Thorne, he wasn’t able to get Robby Ashford in the game the way he’d also discussed. It’s hard to get both players on the field while also keeping rhythm for either. Ashford didn’t play at all in the first half.

It’s another growing pain. Auburn figured out part of the offense against Samford. But how it will get the whole picture involved will be an ongoing change.

“We’ve got to find out if Payton truly is going to function every aspect of the offense, which I thought he did tonight well,” Freeze said. “It’s good to have both of them. How that looks from game to game? I’ve said from Day 1, I don’t know. We’ll have a good plan going into A&M. And I’m sure it will involve both of them.”

After halftime, things changed. Auburn fixed flaws found on the offensive line. Ashford was added back into the game plan. And Thorne became the balanced quarterback Auburn has been looking for.

Auburn pulled away.

Throughout the preseason, Freeze has critiqued Thorne’s decision-making, but nearly always that centered around his choices in Auburn’s run-pass-option offense.

He made many better decisions in the second half of this game, especially with regard to keeping the ball himself. It led to 123 rushing yards — the most of any Auburn quarterback in a decade.

“I guess I’m not that slow,” Thorne said.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

[Paladin 3,307]

Focusing on the details a key for improved Auburn defense

Auburn's defense has been a big surprise through three weeks as the Tigers prepare to open SEC play at Texas A&M.

Jason Caldwell

AUBURN, Alabama—Committing to Auburn over the summer and coming on campus with just a couple of months to prepare for the season, North Texas linebacker transfer Larry Nixon III has settled in really well with the Tigers through three weeks. Playing a key role for coach Ron Roberts’ defense, Nixon said everything has gone well for him as he prepares to head back home to Texas this week for Auburn’s SEC opener against Texas A&M.

“Yeah, I love my LBs and everything,” Nixon said. “I love my defense, too. Coming in from a smaller school to now, it is different. The expectation of you is different. The pressure is different. I feel like I've been able to overcome that and just play football, man. Just go out here and have fun. I'm here for it.”

With new faces throughout the defense and dealing with some injuries early in the season, Auburn has still managed to do some good things on that side of the ball. Currently 15th nationally in total defense (264 yards per game) and and 18th in scoring defense (12.3 points per game), the Tigers have been strong thanks to everyone being on the same page and pulling in the same direction.

“It's really a week-to-week thing with us,” Nixon said. “In practice and everything, we really focus on the little things. Just keep focusing on that. It's football, man. We love to play. I can tell all 11 of us love to play. We love to tackle, we love to run. It's just getting better and better every week.”

That has been the key on that side of the ball, steady improvement. It has happened after the defense struggled in the spring and early in preseason camp. While the offense got the best of the defense in the two scrimmages, Nixon said they just continued to push forward. While still not anything close to a finished product, he said that the Auburn defense continues to grow the more they play together.

“Just our communication, chemistry and everything like that,” he said of the biggest improvement. “We have a lot of players that are new here. From last year to this year, we have a lot of new players — like me, coming in as a new transfer and everything. It was kind of, like, we had to get adjusted to each other and learn how we work together and play together. That's all it was.

“Get better. Just work. Every day. Take every practice, every rep like it's your last. Get better at everything that we've got. We've got to get better for SEC play. It's time. It's really time to lock in and win.”

The challenge coming up this Saturday will be one of the biggest of the season for the Auburn defense against a Texas A&M offense that is rolling under first-year coordinator Bobby Petrino. Averaging 44 points per game (12th nationally) and 467 yards of total offense, the Aggies have done some big things through three games. Fellow linebacker Wesley Steiner agreed with Nixon, saying the key for this defense is to keep on keeping on and show steady improvement.

“I think we’ve shown flashes of what we know we can do,” Steiner said. “I think we’re on the right track. It doesn’t matter who your SEC opponent is. At the end of the day it’s whoever scores the most points and plays harder for 60 minutes and makes the fewest mistakes. Every SEC team is going to be challenged with making the fewest mistakes.

“SEC games are usually lower scoring games, so you only get a few opportunities on offense to score because of a defensive lapse or because you made a great play. Going into SEC play, every small detail needs to be accounted for. Those small details could be the difference in the game.”